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2 Samuel 1
“My kingdom from me rent, my children slain,
My army lost, myself from hope cast out—
The seer hath spoken well. All is achieved.
David, thou art avenged.”
It would seem that the Amalekite had, from a distance, witnessed this transaction, and approaching, took the royal insignia from the body. These were, the bracelets—a most ancient, and still subsisting, insignia of royalty in the East—which we recognize in the ancient monuments of Egypt, Persia, and Assyria, and among the existing regalia of Persia, India, China, and other lands. Also his crown, which, being worn in battle, was probably some kind of diademed helmet, such as we find in ancient monuments. It was, no doubt, a question with the man whether he should not make off with this precious spoil; but, on second thoughts, he fancied it would be better to take them to David, who, flattered by this recognition of his claims, would not fail to reward him beyond their intrinsic worth. To entrance his merits, he also determined to claim the credit of having, at Saul’s request, slain him with his own hand. How could David fail to load with honors and wealth the hand which had laid his great enemy in the dust? Never was human sagacity more at fault. David was affected with most sincere grief at the tidings which the man brought; but he burned with indignation that an Amalekite should have dared to shed the blood of the Lord’s anointed, whose life had heretofore been so precious in his eyes. After, therefore, reproaching him for the deed, he commanded that he should be put to death—a hard measure, scarcely justified by the higher standard of feeling which Christianity has introduced, but which was, without doubt, highly applauded in that day.
The touching and beautiful lamentation which David composed on receiving tidings of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, remains to bear witness to his grief, and to that delicate susceptibility which made tears for a fallen rival natural to him, but which few like him are able to retain so freshly amidst constant association with men of coarse natures and wild manners, such as had been his mates in the wilderness. Here is the song, in a somewhat more correct form than that of the authorized version:
On thy heights, O Israel, is the Gazelle slain!
How are the mighty fallen! Note: The lines in italics, it will be readily seen, form the chorus.
Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon,
Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,
Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
Hills of Gilboa, no dew, no rain, come on you, devoted fields,
For there was stained the bow of the mighty,
Saul’s bow, never anointed with oil.
From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty
The bow of Jonathan turned not aside,
And the sword of Saul came not back empty.
Saul and Jonathan! lovely and pleasant were ye in life,
And in death ye were not divided.
Swifter than eagles, stronger than lions, were they.
Daughters of Israel, weep ye for Saul:
He arrayed you pleasantly in scarlet;
He put ornaments of gold on your apparel.
How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle.
O Jonathan, slain in thy high places.
O Jonathan, my brother, I am grieved for thee:
Very pleasant wast thou to me—
Wonderful was thy love, passing the love of woman
How are the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!
In the authorized version, this noble elegy is introduced by a strange parenthesis: “And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son (also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow; behold it is written in the book of Jasher).” The words the use of, are interpolated, to give the sense that the clause refers to instruction in archery; and it must be admitted that this sense is given to it by divers Jewish and Christian commentators. Without these words the clause stands, “He bade them teach the children of Judah the Bow”—suggesting that this was the title given to the lamentation itself, from the repeated mention of the bow in it—an explanation quite conformable to the Hebrew practice in giving titles to their sacred songs, and which supplies to the parenthesis a close connection with, instead of an abrupt and harsh transition from, what precedes and follows.
It may well be asked, had the men of Judah yet to learn the use of the bow? It was the common weapon. The Hebraism for “bow” is like that for “bread.” As the latter includes all food, so does the former include all weapons. The argument on which the current interpretation is founded is weak indeed—that because Saul and Jonathan fell before the arrows of the Philistines, therefore the children of Judah should be taught the use of the bow. But no deficiency in this weapon appears among the Judahites, and Saul and Jonathan themselves were excellent archers. In the elegy itself it is said, “The bow of Jonathan turned not back.”
The coherence is quite spoiled by this interpretation. The author of the book brings in David as about to commence an epicedium on the death of Saul, and immediately breaks off with an utterly irrelevant order that the men of Judah should be taught to handle the bow. And why is it that for this we should be referred to the book of Jasher, which, from the quotation given from it here and in Joshua 10, seems to have been rather a book of national songs than a military order-book?
That “The Bow” should be the title assigned to this lamentation, will not surprise those who look to the titles of some of the Psalms, such as “Hind of the Morning,” Note: Aijeleth Shahar, Psalms 22. the “Mute Dove among Strangers,” Note: Jonath-elem-rechokim, Psalms 56. the “Lilies,” Note: Shoshannim, Psalms 45; Psalms 69; Psalms 80; Psalms 60; the same in the singular Shushan, the lily. and others, having some kind of reference to the contents, besides others which have reference to the instruments whose music accompanied them. It is easy to see why this poem should bear the name of Keseeth or the Bow. First, probably, because it was occasioned by the Philistine archers (1Sa_31:3); and also, it would seem, with special reference to the bow of Saul and that of Jonathan, both of which are emphatically noticed in this lament. And the reference to the bow of Jonathan, which turned not back from the blood of the slain, could not but suggest to David another recollection of that bow, out of which, in a day tenderly remembered, was shot the arrow which was to be to him the signal of safety or of danger. At that time it was that the brotherly covenant was made, and that affection expressed between them which was greater than the love of woman. In fact there is not one of the Psalms, the contents or occasion of which afford so much reason for the title it bears as this elegy does.
It is observable that the translation of the Septuagint, and of the older editions and manuscripts of the Vulgate, are quite conformable to this, and not to the now current interpretation. It is the same in Tyndale’s translation, which forms the basis of the authorized version. In that we read: “And David sang this song of mourning over Saul and over Jonathan his son, and bade to teach the children of Israel the staves thereof.”